Recent awareness of possible health effects regarding the use of formaldehyde based resins in wood products has led to the establishment of global emissions standards to reduce the use of formaldehyde. Formaldehydes typically used in industrial adhesives, synthetics, and wood products, have now been identified as respiratory sensitizers and possible carcinogens. The levels of formaldehyde emissions measured in buildings, typically residential buildings, frequently exceed safe tolerance levels. Regular items in homes and residential buildings produced with or containing formaldehydes based resins typically include flooring, cabinetry, walls, furniture and carpets.
Development of new adhesives and resins for composite and engineered wood products has been hindered due to cost considerations, health and safety issues, manufacturing limitations, performance, and production capabilities. However, increased consumer awareness has pressured industry to accelerate efforts in developing new resins and binders that are not based on formaldehyde formulations.
A challenge exists to develop alternative resins for use in the manufacture of wood products that are capable of attaining desired performance at similar costs to that of formaldehyde based resins. Although a range of alternative resins are available that are capable of providing appropriate performance properties, these alternative or non-formaldehyde based resins are typically of substantially higher cost and present other health issues, which limited the industry's' adoption of replacement resins.
Naturally occurring plant resins have important uses and applications in many products and industrial processes. Among these are coatings, varnishes, adhesives, and raw materials for organic synthesis.
Triodia, commonly known as Spinifex, is a large genus of hummock-forming grasses common to Australia. There are currently 65 recognised species in the Triodia genus (Lazarides et al. 2005). The Triodia plant has been known for centuries to contain a resin with high strength and water resistant properties, and has been traditionally used as an adhesive and waterproof coating for water craft. This perennial grass densely covers approximately 1.5 million square kilometers of the continent, mostly in the western half of Australia. The plant averages one meter in height and two to three meters in width, relatively dense, and forms in large clumps or “hummocks”.
However, the commercial application of the Triodia resin has to date been unrecognized and problematical due to difficulties in developing a suitable extraction process for isolating the resin from the plant menterial.
A need exists to provide an alternative resin to those based on formaldehyde, or which overcomes, or at least alleviates, the problems of the prior art.